1841-1886
STATE OF HER MAJESTY'S COLONIAL POSSESSIONS.
255
117
39. The progress of education has been satisfactory. We owe much to the zeal and aptitude of Mr. Lobscheid, the school inspector. The Government has given every encouragement to public instruction, and instead of 915l. voted for the service of 1858, has allotted 1,500l. for the present year.
40. I have so often expressed an opinion as to the inconvenience and absurdity of making the sovereign the standard of exchange in a country where gold is no legal tender, and of maintaining an accountancy in pounds sterling and pence in a colony where not a merchant, shopkeeper, or individual has any transaction except in dollars and cents, that it would be wearisome and intrusive to repeat what I have so urgently put forward. As regards the diplomatic service now provided for by the colonial chest, the removal of the Superintendency from Hong Kong will necessitate a change of system, and after the strong representations that have been made to the Government, I trust the colony will be allowed to keep its accounts, as everybody but the Commissariat and the Government keeps them, in the only currency that is recognized by the usages of the place.
41. I am informed that it is intended to enlarge the dimensions of the dock at Aberdeen, and that it will be competent to receive the largest frigates which come to these waters. The works are constructed of granite and admirably efficient.
42. The elevation of the water springs at Pokfoolum being considerably above that of Victoria, the supply of water abundant, and the distance not more than four miles, I am of opinion with the Colonial Secretary, that this locality presents many advantages for furnishing water for the city; but as I have before reverted to the subject in this report, I would add that I cannot come to a satisfactory conclusion in the existing divergence of opinion, as to the course best to be pursued. I have only to recommend a thorough investigation of the matter. Meanwhile, I am happy to say that the number of fire engines in the colony belonging to Europeans and Chinese is considerable, and that a little improvement in the organization of the service attending in cases of fire, would greatly add to the public security. No part of the city is far from the sea, and this advantage ought to be made more available than it has hitherto been.
43. My views as to the desirableness of adding the small peninsula opposite Hong Kong to the colony, it will have been seen, are in perfect accordance with Mr. Mercer's. It will not, I fear, be so easy now to negotiate for its transfer as it would have been some months ago when we obtained land for the Wampoa consulate; but I am strongly of opinion the sooner the question is discussed with the Chinese authorities the greater is the chance of a favourable solution.
44. I need not go over the ground pre-occupied by Mr. Mercer in reference to the effect which the extension of trade with China will have upon the colony of Hong Kong. I believe that extension will add to its prosperity as a commercial depôt, and to its value as a territorial possession. Never had a colony to contend against a greater amount of prejudice, ignorance, and misrepresentation. If having "a bad name" could have ruined it its perdition was inevitable, but who can withstand the testimony of facts and figures—facts in figures I might say. Hong Kong is the seat and the centre, the directing and controlling place, round which the vast commerce of the China seas is gathered. "Here are the heads of the great houses, the merchant princes of the east; from hence the instructions emanate which govern the proceedings of all the ports in China. Here are the principal banking establishments; here may be said to be the intelligence and the concentrated wealth of the largest commercial establishments in the Oriental world. If Hong Kong be but a "barren and unhealthy rock," it has directed millions upon millions to the Imperial and Indian treasuries, through immense disadvantages, contrarieties, and an "unworthy reputation;" it has made its way to a commercial position, of which a few years ago nobody dreamed. On every side fine houses are rising, hills are being levelled, valleys filled, ground recovered from the sea. I have had occasion to hear the opinion of almost every foreign traveller who for years has visited the colony; and while they have looked on the shipping, traversed the streets, and witnessed the general activity of the population, I have seldom heard anything but expressions of wonder and admiration, with the frequent addition, "You, indeed, know how to colonize! How few harbours in the world can boast as Hong Kong can of an average daily entrance of 2,000 tons of mercantile shipping. In how few has there been so rapid an increase of foreign population, seeking the protection of our laws and the participation in our commerce! Such progress, such prosperity, such prospects, are the best answer to all misrepresentations, whatever be their origin, their motive, or their circulation.
45. The far greater question, as to the influence which may hereafter result from the Russian movements down the Amoor, their settlements on the coast of Tartary, their position at the Court of Peking would open the field to far graver considerations